From the Papers: Discovering “one of the brightest women in Oakland”

Each correspondent represented in the Mary Baker Eddy Papers collection contributed in some unique way to the growth of Christian Science. Each had a story worth knowing. And yet, details beyond those in the letters themselves are often unavailable; their individual contributions remain obscured by history.

Occasionally, however, the Papers team comes across letters to Mary Baker Eddy that identify more-prominent people who were attracted to Christian Science in its early period, and who went on to amplify its benefits through the magnitude of their lives. These letters enable us to discover how historical figures, distinguished in their own right, may have been impacted by Eddy’s discovery in ways previously unrecognized.

The Papers team recently encountered such a letter in the course of their work to digitally publish Eddy’s correspondence. It was written by Minnie B. Hall De Soto, of Denver, Colorado, who took her Normal course at the Massachusetts Metaphysical College in May 1886. Soon after, De Soto began teaching classes of her own, even traveling as far as California to do so. On August 13, 1886, at the conclusion of a class she taught in Oakland, she wrote to Eddy:

They are – very learned people, and have asked me more questions than they would think of asking a College Prof., but it really seemed wonderful the answers I was able to give – Mrs Strong, one of the brightest women in Oakland, said she had never talked to any one before that she could not talk down or ask them questions that would wind them up- You see the Truth gave me more to stand upon than all of her worldly knowledge so I had the decided advantage.¹

Who was this Mrs. Strong, we wondered—“one of the brightest women in Oakland” who, rather than intimidating De Soto, inspired her to rise to the occasion? Although De Soto’s letter didn’t give many identifying details (not even a first name), research revealed her to be Harriet Williams Russell Strong, an inventor, horticulturist, businesswoman, music composer, conservationist, philanthropist, suffragist, and social activist, who at one time was deemed one of California’s most prominent and distinguished women.² She found her way to Christian Science at a critical turning point in her life and then continued to be involved with it throughout her remarkable career.

Strong was born in Buffalo, New York, in 1844 and moved with her family to Carson City, Nevada, in 1861. She attended the Young Ladies Seminary in Benicia, California, and in 1863 married Charles L. Strong in Virginia City, Nevada, at age 19. He was a mining superintendent who also owned several large mining and ranching properties throughout Southern California. Their married years were challenging. Charles’s career required them to move frequently, from Virginia City to Oakland to Southern California and back. They both suffered ill health, and Charles’s speculative business practices ran them into financial trouble.³ Historian Susan Albertine explains their situation:

Harriet suffered from nervous disease, or hysteria…. Both she and Charles had the same complaints. Both husband and wife tried a variety of orthodox and popular treatments; in addition to the water cure, they used patent medicines, narcotics, dietary regimens, and galvanic belts.⁴

In 1883, deeply in debt and following a failed business deal, Charles took his own life. At that low point—grappling with grief, dire legal and financial problems, and the challenges of raising four young daughters alone—Strong became interested in Christian Science. On January 28, 1885, she wrote a postcard to Eddy, with the message “I will be greatly obliged to Mrs. Eddy if she will give me some information in regard to her system of mind cure.”⁵ A note on the postcard, in the hand of secretary Calvin A. Frye, indicates that she was sent a copy of the Massachusetts Metaphysical College curriculum in reply. Although Strong would likely have thrived as Eddy’s own student, perhaps the very long distance from Oakland to Boston, coupled with Strong’s complicated life circumstances at that time, precluded that opportunity. Fortunately, De Soto taught a Christian Science class in Oakland the following year, and Strong was able to attend. We see from De Soto’s report to Eddy that Strong participated vigorously in the class and was apparently satisfied with it.

Strong’s fortunes began to reverse. Several historians have noted the 180-degree turn she made during this period, from a life of struggle and debility to one of thriving success and impact. Albertine notes:

[T]his resilient, Progressive capitalist had been a “hysteric,” a sufferer of the “fashionable disease” from childhood through nearly twenty years of marriage. Her career during marriage seemed entirely Victorian and domestic, defined by maternity, conjugal responsibility, and illness…. She left four daughters and her husband, Charles, in California while she took the rest cure. During treatment, in February 1883, she learned that Charles had committed suicide. Thereafter her career bore the signs of what would seem utter transformation. Once free of marriage, Harriet ceased to be ill. In the second half of her life, she emerged as a modern, public woman, a nationally known entrepreneur, inventor, agriculturist, civic leader, and suffragist.⁶

Although scholars and historians have offered various theories about how and why this “utter transformation” came about, they struggle to explain it—and Strong apparently left no record explaining it herself. But we do know it coincided with the period when she began studying Christian Science. Interestingly, in many ways the trajectory of Strong’s life patterned that of Eddy. The available records show that after De Soto’s class, she remained actively engaged with Christian Science throughout the events that unfolded over the following decades.

Needing a place to settle and a way to earn a living, Strong moved her family to a large ranch and homestead in the San Gabriel Valley, near present-day Whittier, California. Charles had bought the property in 1867. It took her eight years to resolve the litigation over it in the wake of his death, and when she moved there the ranch was unproductive. However, she was determined to save it and make it viable.⁷ Among other things, she invented several novel methods of flood control, irrigation, and water storage, ultimately holding patents on five different inventions.⁸ Through her innovative methods, the property, which she called Rancho del Fuerte, or “Ranch of the Strong,” became extraordinarily productive. She planted pampas grass, citrus fruits, and pomegranates, and within a few years had the largest walnut farm in the United States. Her irrigation and water storage systems became widely adopted throughout Southern California, and she received awards for her inventions at Chicago’s 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. While attending there, she addressed a women’s congress meeting on the importance of business training for women. In 1918, at age 73, Strong presented her water conservation concepts to a United States congressional committee. Later they became instrumental in the design of the Hoover Dam and All-American Canal.⁹

In the early 1890s Strong turned her attention to social causes, traveling throughout the US with Susan B. Anthony to promote women’s suffrage.¹⁰ She was the first female member of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce; the first president of the feminist Business League of America; founder of the Ebell women’s club of Los Angeles; vice president of the Los Angeles Symphony Association; and the first female trustee of the University of Southern California Law School. She started the Paso de Bartolo Water Company with all-women stockholders in 1900¹¹ and has been inducted into both the National Women’s Hall of Fame¹² and the National Inventors Hall of Fame.¹³ Women’s history professor Sara Alpern notes her accomplishments:

Harriet Strong traveled from her home in California to Washington in 1918 with a general letter of introduction calling her “… one of the most distinguished women of the state, and one of its most prominent citizens … Mrs. Strong is one of the most farseeing of those who have taken up the great subject of flood control, and her position in this community both socially and as a woman of influence and brains, is at the top.”¹⁴

Throughout her remarkable career, Strong was committed to Christian Science and to contributing to its growth in her community. She and her daughters Harriet R. Strong and Nelle de Luce Strong joined The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, in June 1902. Nelle became a practitioner listed in The Christian Science Journal.

Strong was one of the founders of the Christian Science church in Whittier, California.¹⁵ On July 10, 1907, she and her daughter Harriet co-signed this letter to Eddy:

Beloved Leader:–First Church of Christ, Scientist, of Whittier, California, in annual meeting assembled, desire to express our love and gratitude and loyalty to you for the great work you have accomplished for humanity, and for the benefits we have received individually and as a church; and we rejoice that the understanding of God which you have revealed to us is protecting you, and that you are enabled, “Having done all, to stand.”¹⁶

In the US of the 1800s it was unusual for women to rise to prominence in the fields of either religion or business. Eddy and Strong were on opposite coasts, but in many ways they were on parallel journeys in this rarefied space. Through the work of our Papers project, we can see how their lives intersected through the mediary of De Soto. It must have bolstered Eddy to receive reports like De Soto’s, illustrating how Christian Science was being faithfully tended and nurtured, and revealing the types of people her students attracted and taught successfully. The Papers team is uncovering more all the time about how Christian Science inspired and benefitted a wide variety of people in its early years. As we continue to annotate the Mary Baker Eddy Collection, more gems will undoubtedly surface that illuminate fascinating individuals and tell stories we didn’t know about before.

Please note: Quoted references in our “From the Papers” article series reflect the original documents. For this reason they may include spelling mistakes and edits made by the authors. In instances where a mark or edit is not easily represented in quoted text, a deletion or insertion may be made silently.